New Delhi/IBNS: Over 200 passengers of a Delhi-San Francisco Air India flight faced inconvenience amid a severe heatwave in the national capital as the flight, which was supposed to take off on Thursday (May 30), departed from Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) on Friday (May 31) night, after a delay of more than 30 hours.

According to reports, the Air India flight (AI 1183), which was originally scheduled to take off from the Delhi airport at 3:30 pm on Thursday, was delayed due to operational reasons and departed from IGI Airport at 9:55 pm on Friday after being rescheduled multiple times since its Scheduled Time of Departure (STD) on Thursday.

India Today reported, citing sources in Air India, that the airline also offered a full refund and hotel stay to all stranded passengers.

The duration of the Delhi-San Francisco non-stop flight is nearly 16 hours and by the time it arrives in San Francisco International Airport (SFO), it would be night there.

As per sources, the massive delay was attributed to a technical glitch, the non-operational air conditioning system on the aircraft, and issues related to the payload.

However, no official statement regarding the cause behind the delay has been received so far from Air India.